Magic Helps With the Nightmares
by BadWolfGirl01
Summary: Written for prompt by tumblr user aliencomicinvasion: "I asked for your help getting a book off the top shelf and and you laughed at my taste and called me a nerd so I shoved you into a table of books and that's how we both got banned from the bookstore AU" NinexRose. Might be more chapters, might not, depends on if people like it or not. Please review!
"'Scuse me," a shy female voice said. "Could you help me, please?"

Doctor John Smith turned to see a young, blonde woman standing near him, shifting nervously from foot to foot. "What do you want?" he asked bluntly. The girl's hazel eyes shifted down to the large quantum physics book resting on the table in front of him, then back up to his face.

"If you're busy, I can just—" she started to back away, towards the bookshelves. John sighed roughly.

"You already interrupted me, might as well tell me what you need help with," he said, inwardly cursing himself. He should just let the girl leave, back to her romance novels and magazines and most importantly, away from him. There was nothing that could absolve the battered, weary old soldier. Doctor? As a title, it fitted him poorly. He shook his head and focused on the blonde.

"I want to buy a book, but it's on the top shelf and, well, I can't reach it. Not exactly tall, am I?" the girl asked, a hint of sarcasm making its way into her voice. John rose from his seat and followed her.

"Harry Potter?" he asked disbelievingly. "What do you read those tales for, girl? Complete, utter rubbish—oi!"

"M' name's not girl, it's Rose. And I happen to love Harry Potter."

"You shoved me into a bookshelf!"

"You insulted my favorite books, what was I supposed to do? Who are you anyway, to decide what's rubbish? Some sort of god?"

John stilled abruptly at her words. Memories flashed through his mind of words said by the other soldiers, both under his command and above him. _The Lonely God, as good a name as any . . . He thinks he's a god and acts like one, too . . . Doesn't agree with our new General, but then again, why would he? He is a god, after all . . ._

"Just look at this mess! Miss Tyler, I'd expect better from you. As for you, _Doctor_ , one would think that you would at least have some care for books, even if you have none for human life," the owner of the bookstore shouted as he approached them. John flinched at the man's words. "Out, both of you, and I never want to see you in here again! Do you hear me?"

"But—but Mr. Graham, please," the girl, Rose, said.

"Out!" he shouted, slamming the door behind them. John sighed heavily.

"Are you 'lright?" John looked down at the—Rose. He had nearly forgotten she was there.

"I'm always alright," he answered almost habitually.

"I never did get your name," she said after a moment. It was clear that this girl, whoever she was, didn't believe him, but she wasn't going to push.

"John. Doctor John Smith," he answered absently. His mind was miles away, filled with blood and fire and screams.

"I s'pose you already know mine," Rose answered. "Sorry about the whole thing, it looked like you were reading something important, 'n' now you can't go back an' get it."

"It wasn't important. Just a distraction," he found himself saying.

"You use quantum physics as an escape?" she asked skeptically.

"Makes my mind focus—hold on, what would you know about using books as escapes? You're just some teenaged city girl, never been outside of London, got nothing to escape from."

Almost before he finished his sentence, he heard a voice shout, "ROSE! Get your ass over here, now! What've I told you 'bout bookstores! You're not smart enough to be in there!"

Rose visibly paled at the man's voice. "I, ah, gotta go," she said hurriedly. "You really should read Harry Potter, though, Doctor. Magic helps with nightmares."

John frowned at the use of the hated title, but his attention was more focused on the way Rose was reacting to the man. "Who's he?" John asked, with a nod to the man—no, boy, really—rapidly approaching.

"He's my boyfriend. Jimmy Stone. I've gotta go. Bye!" With that, Rose Tyler fled.

OoOoO

 _Meet me in the park tomorrow at noon for chips? Doctor_

"Well, that's that, then," John said to himself as he tucked the note inside the jacket of the fifth Harry Potter book. It was the one that Rose Tyler had been looking at, before they had gotten themselves banned from the bookstore. He walked to the customer service desk in Henrick's, where the afore mentioned blonde worked, and asked them to give it to her. For reasons unknown, John couldn't just forget about Rose.

The look on her face when she'd heard Jimmy calling for her was seared in his mind, along with those hazel eyes that had seemed to pierce his very soul. And for a brief moment, John hadn't felt like a weary old soldier. He wanted—no, _needed_ —to get to know this Rose Tyler.

After all, magic helps with the nightmares.


End file.
